Essay On Brownfields

There has been a recent phenomenon throughout the United States of gentrification. As older parts of neighborhoods are occupied by new tenants with money, the neighborhood changes and loses its old character. Those who might have lived in those neighborhoods their entire lives are pushed out as rents begin to skyrocket and the surroundings begin to change. This has happened in many neighborhoods. One of the most well known is San Francisco, where technology companies have brought in new software engineers that have caused local rents to skyrocket and people to move out of the area. However, just as importantly has been the influx of new money to Brooklyn, where local neighborhood changes have forced people from their homes, traditional music to be replaced, and old businesses to go bankrupt.

Henry Box Brown was an African-American slave in the 1800’s. When he was young, his original slave owner had passed, and Henry was sent to work for his old slave owner’s son. As he got older he met another slave named Nancy while on an errand for his owner. Brown and Nancy wanted to get married and start a family. Later on, Brown and Nancy had three children. “Unfortunately, in 1848 Nancy and their three children were sold to a slave trader who sent them to North Carolina,” (Simkin). Brown was bemused and mournful because his owner promised to not sell his family. Questions were raised on if he should attempt an escape, and this paper will explain the benefits on why Henry Box Brown made the right decision to escape.

When a neighborhood is gentrified it will not only change the image of it, but also the services available there (Al-Kodmany 2011, 62-63). In other words, gentrification does not only have an impact on the physical aspect of the land, but also the resources that lie there. During the 90s, the Near West Side neighborhood located near Loop, an up-scale neighborhood, sought drastic changes within the area. The changes in racial demographics in the Near West Side indicated that the health risks that affected minorities dropped in the past decade (1992-2002) (Al-Kodmany 2011,

     The main focus of the story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is the triumph of evil over good. A supposedly good man is tempted by evil and allows himself to be converted into a man of evil. This is much like the situation that arises in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, where two people are tempted to sin and give in thus submitting themselves to the power of the devil. In this novel, the area where the devil resides is strictly parallel to that in “Young Goodman Brown”.

A martyr is defined as a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause. To many people back in eighteen fifty-nine, this defined a man named John Brown in many ways. John Brown was a devoted abolitionist who had been important in the conflict of slavery in Kansas. In October of eighteen fifty-nine, Brown led an interracial group of men who took over a federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, hoping to spark a slave revolt. To his dismay, Brown and some of his followers were captured after a gunfight with federal troops. He was later tried and found guilty for murder, treason, and conspiracy. Browns actions and execution led many people to believe he was in

Its population increased by 48% within few years. The expansion of cities resulted in destroying unbuilt and farm lands to further the constructions. Landowners with land interfering with “planned residential communities” were forced to give up their lands and see them destroyed. As the author states, families such as Warnes were forced to see their family lands bought and built. Even though such intact lands are rare in the area and beneficial to the population as somewhere to connect with nature, entrepreneurs prefer the economical profit. The suburbs expand and with every new family moving in the area, more cars are purchased adding to the gridlock.

Imagine the home you lived in for decades, being knocked down for a football stadium, shopping center, or new housing. That is gentrification. Webster’s dictionary defines gentrification as “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste” (“Gentrification”). Gentrification is not a new subject, as it has been occurring for centuries, dating back to medieval times, constructing forts over villages. Today, gentrification typically occurs in urban settings where buildings are vacant, and most of the residents live in poverty. Gentrification can destroy families, communities, and history. This topic is often at the center of debate for politics and town gossip, as developers are disrupting the current residents that reside in the vicinity. Gentrification occurs all around us, having pros and cons for each project. How is it ethical to kick individuals out of their home, and community for another’s benefit? Questions arise as the development and takeover of land often displaces individuals, their entire families, and livelihood. Temple University is a prime example of gentrification as well as other wealthy organizations, including football teams from the National Football League. The practice of gentrification comes to symbolize the new development and demolition of individual’s lives while trying to benefit the parties involved.

In the 1954 trial Brown v. Board of Ed the supreme court majority agreed that “separate but equal” was shown to be inherently unequal. When several cases of African American students being denied acceptance into schools arrose, life in public schools changed forever. In a decision that supported by the fourteenth amendment, the U.S. supreme court ruled against the segregation of schools and allowed African Americans to attend white schools.

However through urban planning and development, solutions can be discovered and put into action to allow easier flow into urbanism. Transportation issues for example can be resolved by planning for the future of Los Angeles and by investing in the public transportation system. An example of this would be investing in bike paths, lanes, and routes so that people with low income, such as Hispanic immigrants, can travel to their locations in an easier manner through biking. An investment “to fill in gaps and complete the citywide bike plan” for this method of transportation “calls for nearly 1,700 miles of new and upgraded paths and lanes before 2035,” which can seem difficult but possible (Laura J. Nelson). Biking as a new main method of transportation “can help reduce crashes of all types and assist in reaching an ambitious new city goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2025” (Laura J. Nelson). A solution to gentrification through urban planning is to instead focus on a new method of development called Asset Based Community Development. Through this different urban revitalization process, an inside out approach is taken where development occurs by focusing on the communities’ assets and building upon them, unlike gentrification. When the community is dedicated and determined to rebuild their torn down neighborhoods, it is possible to bring new life to the neighborhood by focusing on assets such

Growing up in East Austin, one would be accustomed to seeing rundown neighborhoods inhabited mostly by African American and Hispanic working-class families. In the past few years though, the view has drastically changed. Now brightly colored two-story homes housing affluent Caucasian families occupy the once dilapidated areas. The previously desolated lots are now the future sites of lofts and condominiums. The recent changes in East Austin are a clear sign of gentrification. Gentrification is the extremely evident process of displacement. Revitalizing a derelict neighborhood favors the entire community, not just the ones with money. However, revitalization and gentrification

Urban sprawl is quite commonplace in most suburban communities and usually make way for many problems alongside it. With residents come needs of the people such as work spaces, commercial centres and institutions. While although the community of Morningside Heights may be abundant in many things such as institutions and industrial land, the focus on dealing with urban sprawl has led to the lack of focus on other needs of a community. Here, a large influx of people coming into the community without enough residential area to sustain a rapidly growing population. As much as the community has been expanding into the area which was once a golf club, there is not enough land, or money to build housing to sustain the number of people coming in. In addition there is the problem of the environmental impact; habitats being destroyed for the sake of this housing.

During the 1960s, while the United States was going through a civil infrastructure revolution, Texas lead the way in innovative ways; creating modern marvels that would go onto to become “Wonders of the World.” Once such building in particular lead a technical revolution, here in the city of Houston. Home to several professional sports team, and later a registered as a national land mark, the Texas created Houston Astrodome was the first in what would become multi-purposed indoor sports arenas.

Gentrification presents itself when outsiders enter an urban community, commonly densely populated with people of color, and through complicit actions wards off the residents within. As the area begins to gain popularity and appeal, the soaring property prices create an incentive for the property owners to rid of the tenants to make room for the newcomers. Furthermore, corporations begin to supersede homes and exploit defenseless communities. Although the newcomers do tend to improve these previously indigent neighborhoods, it comes at the destruction of the cultures that exist within said neighborhoods. Therefore, the amenities of the communities of color enervate in the name of gentrification.

Brown Deer School District is located in the village of Brown Deer, five minutes north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The village population is about twelve thousand and the schools in the district roughly count about one hundred and twenty-five students per grade. The school district is smaller that district in the area but sustains a pretty diverse school. When I graduated my senior year, there was about fifty percent Black, forty percent White, and ten percent Asian and HIspanic. The problems at the schools were not necessarily racism but the “name” game. The name game is when popularity is determined by your last name and what your parents or siblings have done in the community. If your parents, or siblings, were a standout popular student or your parents are well known in the community, you were probably one of the popular people in your grade. The only way to overcome the name game is to make a name for yourself. You have to personally work harder than others to make yourself standout from other people. In regarding to the last name popularity in my case, I was the oldest child out of my family. My family moved into Brown Deer when I was one. So my parents were not as popular as other families in the community. To begin my time at Brown Deer, I had a speech problem where I was thinking to fast and could not form any words to speak. This speech impediment resulted in me starting schooling in special education. Eventually I was able to figure out how to speak well and was

I woke up before my alarm. A distant square of eerie half-twilight from the window held the familiar outline of the locust tree. In the dark, I fumbled to dress without waking my parents. I slipped outside.